A decade after his national anthem protest changed the conversation around sports and activism, Colin Kaepernick is set to tell his story in his own words.
According to ABC News, Kaepernick announced on Tuesday, April 7, that his memoir, The Perilous Fight, will be released September 15 through Legacy Lit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The book arrives nearly 10 years after the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback first knelt during a preseason game in protest of police brutality and racial injustice.
The publisher describes The Perilous Fight as “equal parts memoir and manifesto,” tracing the years that led Kaepernick to his now-famous protest and the fallout that followed. The release will include hardcover and e-book editions, while Kaepernick himself will narrate an audiobook version, available exclusively through Audible.
In a statement announcing the book, Kaepernick said he wanted readers to understand that the decision to kneel did not happen overnight. “People saw the moment. But they didn’t see the years that made it possible,” he said.
Kaepernick added that his experiences as “a Black kid navigating an identity the world didn’t always make space for” and his growing awareness of injustice shaped the path that led him to that moment. “When I took a knee, it wasn’t a sudden act,” he said.
The memoir is expected to revisit Kaepernick’s rise from standout quarterback to one of the most polarizing figures in modern sports. Before his protest made headlines, Kaepernick spent six seasons with the 49ers and helped lead the franchise to Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
After the 2016 season, he became a free agent and never played in the NFL again. He later filed a grievance against the league, alleging that he had been blacklisted because of his protest. Kaepernick and the NFL reached a settlement in 2019.
While Kaepernick has remained out of the NFL, he has continued building a career beyond football through activism, publishing, and media. He previously launched Kaepernick Publishing, co-wrote the children’s book We Are Free, You & Me, and released the graphic novel Change the Game.
The book announcement comes just months after Kaepernick made headlines for selling his longtime Tribeca condo in New York for $2.82 million. The apartment, which he purchased in 2016 shortly before his protest began, had been listed since 2024.
